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UNC Center Day'Ron Sharpe Opens Career With Double-Double

Freshman discusses his collegiate debut

UNC freshman big man Day’Ron Sharpe made his college debut in Wednesday’s 79-60 win over College of Charleston.

Sharpe didn’t get the full college experience, since students and fans weren’t allowed in the Smith Center.

“Even though there were no fans, it was still exactly what I expected for my first college game. Playing with Carolina is a dream come true. Even without fans, it was still a great experience for me.”

Sharpe came off the bench to score 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting in 22 minutes. He also pulled down 10 rebounds, five offensive, for a double-double to open his college career.

“Just focus on going to the boards,” he said of his priority for the game. “I’m a big guy. I like to move, high motor. I’m going to try help my team win wherever I can help them at.”

UNC led by 14 early, then saw Charleston take a brief second-half lead before a 17-0 Carolina run broke open the game. That gave Sharpe an early lesson on college basketball.

“You’ve got to play every game hard,” he said. “It’s not like high school, where you can beat up on teams, and they just give up and let you keep beating up on them. In college, we had a lead on them and then they called time out. They came out of the time out and tried to turn it up on us. We’ve got to play hard every position. Don’t let up on anybody.”

Coach Roy Williams said the starting job is a “coin flip” between Sharpe and sophomore Armando Bacot. He planned to have each start a half against Charleston, but Sharpe had two fouls at the half, so he started the second half on the bench.

Bacot praised Sharpe’s outing, saying he had a good chance to break UNC’s double-doubles record.

“We’re all good players in the paint,” Sharpe said. “So stuff like that means a lot when one of my teammates, a fellow big, is saying that.”